Hungarian firms sign agreement on €380 mln project in Serbia

A consortium of seven Hungarian companies, a US firm and a German bank on Monday signed an agreement on a €380 million project to build Serbia's biggest bioethanol plant, MTI reported.

The seven Hungarian companies are being joined by US-based CSLM Development and Germany's Commerzbank. The project will include the construction of a river port, logistics centre and R&D base on a 60-hectare site near Zrenjanin, about 70 km north of Belgrade. It is expected to be completed in 2009. The plant will require a yearly 1m tons of wheat and 500,000 tons of maize. It will produce an annual 390,000 tons of ethanol and 370,000 tons of feed and fertilizer from the maize and 155,000 tons of bioethanol and 145,000 tons of feed from the wheat. The feed will be sold locally, with the ethanol being sold in Western Europe and Serbia. Contracts with suppliers will be signed for 5- to 10-year periods, with prices set at the daily market price. The plant will also assist farmers with the finance of planting and the purchase of supplies and equipment. The plant will result in 300 new jobs and indirectly create work for another 1,500 people. Hungarian government commissioner in charge of Eastern economic relations and president of the Hungarian-Serb Intergovernmental Committee György Gilyan, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Ivana Dulic-Markovic and Serbian Minister of Economic Affairs and Privatization Predrag Bubalo were present at the signing, where they also discussed economic relations between the two countries.

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